


Please Guard My Life

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Actors, Anxiety, Kate Argent Warning, M/M, Magic!Stiles, Mentions of self neglect, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Phobias, Trigger Warning: Drowning, Werewolves are still a thing, she's mentioned atleast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-08 07:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4295946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>UNBETA'D - If Derek had known the full script he wouldn't have auditioned in the first place, now his only options are to warn his co-star and try to grin and bare it.. or give up and back out... and Derek never was a quitter</p><p>Or</p><p>Derek and Stiles are co-stars in a new movie and Derek is scared he'll get triggered onset and looks to Stiles for help</p>
            </blockquote>





	Please Guard My Life

**Author's Note:**

> -UNBETA'D- I feel like at some point in every Sterek writer's "career" there has to be a fic centered around the infamous pool scene, canon, AU, whatever, even if it's just a drabble like this, and when I read something or other about Hoechlin saying how hard that scene was to shoot because treading water is something life guards are trained for and Dylan isn't a life guard (from Team Wolf con I think) this is somehow what I thought of

He shouldn't have been nearly as nervous as he was

He was an actor, this was what he did, he could do this

He could do this, he could get through this....

Except he wasn't so sure he really could...

"Hi, I'm Stiles,"

He looked up, swallowing slightly and taking a breath as he looked up at the owner of the voice

"Derek," he replied quickly, staring at the other actor's- Stiles'- extended hand and reaching out awkwardly to shake it

"Hey Derek, so you're the only other survivor it looks like," Stiles grinned

It took a moment before Derek remembered that they were shooting a horror film so it took him by a bit of surprise but he nodded and smiled as soon as he remembered

"Pretty neat twist at the end huh? That Cassie dies and then I'm miraculously revealed to be alive after you kill the killer? Then we walk into the sunset, or you know, moonlight, whatever, talk about a modern twist huh?"

He nodded slowly, feeling his heart stutter slightly

"Not all that talkative are you?" Stiles guessed

"No, not really," he confessed

"Well that's ok! My buddy Boyd is even less talkative than you ain't that right Boyd?" he smiled over his shoulder

One of the cameramen, a bulky guy atleast as big as Derek if not a bit bigger, stared at Stiles like he was the single bane of his existence and just shook his head as he stalked off somewhere else

"Ha... ha.... classic Boyd.... we worked on 'Walk In The Daisies' together too, that's uh... how we became good freinds," he said awkwardly

Derek felt a little sorry for him, he had met Boyd earlier that day and he seemed like a pretty nice, quiet guy so Derek had a feeling whatever happened was purely on Stiles but the other actor did seem like the type who would bend over backwards to get a declaration of freindship...

Derek was like that once, now he just preferred to be left alone, but he couldn't help feeling a slight sting at seeing Stiles fail as miserably as he had

"Hey Guys! You already met, that's great!"

Derek had been an actor for the last seven years but he had still never met a director as exuberant and chipper as this one

"Hey Scott! Yeah, we just met, do we get to film soon?" he asked excitedly

Scott nodded and stared up at Derek brightly

"Yeah, we have to do all of our on-location scenes first so as soon as the fireworks are over we'll be getting you guys in the pool, just to make sure you know how it's going to work, Derek's charector- Shawn- will have be cut in the stomach, you two will jump in the pool to get away from the killer and hide underwater, then Stiles will pull you both back up to the surface and tread water for a wile, Derek I need you to just try to appear as much like dead weight as possible so the audience will really think you're dieing, so don't move much ok?"

Derek nodded slowly, trying not to appear as nervous as he felt, luckily Scott didn't seem to notice

"Yeah I can do that, don't worry," Stiles smiled back

"You sure? I mean I know you're a good swimmer but it's alot different when you have another person to support..."

"I'm FINE Scott, seriously, I can do it," he insisted

"Alright, cool, Derek is that good with you?"

No, actually, it really wasn't, but he was an actor, he had to work through these things

"Yeah, it's fine,"

"Great! Then we'll do the firework scene and I'll have Kira let you know when hair and make up are ready for you ok?"

Scott and Stiles chatted a bit more, a little more personally, but Derek tuned it out

If the water and the kid with what looked like no upper body strength didn't kill him the nerves sure as hell would...

He should have taken the age-old advice about not letting a family member be your manager, he was going to kill his sister for this one...

~+~

He didn't want to do this, that was the thing

But he found himself staring at the trailer door before he had too much of a choice and nocked on it, hearing some movement before the door opened

"Hey Derek, what's up?" Stiles grinned at him

Before Derek could answer a small dog came skittering around the corner and clambered at Stiles' feet

"Ohhhhh come 'ere you little chicken the crackles aren't gonna hurt you," he cooed, picking up the dog and cuddling her close

"C'mon in, sorry about Trix, the fireworks scare her," he mused as he stepped aside

Derek stepped in, a little more comfortable in the trailer than out, and took a breif look around at the wreck Stiles had made

Atleast, he assumed the pile of clothes and scattered pappers everywhere were due to Stiles and not the dog...

"I have to bring my little miss with me when I go on location 'cause my daddy won't babysit anymore will he?" he hummed, still cooing to the dog

Or atleast Derek hoped he was

"Why won't he babysit?" he asked curiously, sitting in one of the chairs at the table as Stiles plopped onto the couch and allowed Trix to cower in his lap, cuddling her as much as he could wile still focusing on Derek

"Well Trixie here lives up to her name and bit a gunman last time I let my dad watch her, he's the sheriff in my hometown and I told him not to leave her alone too much because it'd traumatize her- see, I used to have a roommate who was a college student and he'd watch her for me whenever I had to go shooting but he's living with his girlfreind now so... anyway Dad took her with him to the station and when he went to interrogate this armed robber they had brought in Trixie bolts out of his office and gnaws the guy's ankle, it was a pretty huge mess so... now if Daddy has to work long hours lil' miss Trixie has to come too, it just doesn't do for Uncle Scotty to pop in for a few hours and watch TV with us does it? No, last time that drove us BONKERS and we screamed and screamed and screamed until the neighbor called the cops and wasn't THAT embarrassing? Yes," he cooed further, letting the little dog lick his face (and right over his mouth too, God if Derek didn't let his dog do the same thing to him he'd be disturbed) as he hugged her

"Right.... how does biting a criminal live up to the name Trixie...?"

He really wasn't sure how he settled on asking THAT of all questions but here he was...

"I named her Beatrix after Beatrix Kiddo from Kill Bill and I don't know if you're a Tarantino fan but if Beatrix Kiddo was a dog biting criminals is something I'm pretty sure she would do, if you know, given the chance," he shrugged

"I'm not sure if I'd call myself a Tarantino fan but Kill Bill is one of my favorite movies so.. clever," he shrugged

"I love Kill Bill, first audition I ever did was Elle Driver's Black Mamba monologue, I actually got the part in a play with it, trust me I've never been more surprised, I was actually pigeon-holed as a dark actor for a long time because I auditioned with it for like two other productions and when someone reckognized me or I was requested- wich, back then was the only way I really got work since scraping up auditions was harder- it was always like 'Oh my God you're that guy who played that assassin will you be a serial killer for me?' that sorta thing, true story, I actually had to do a stand up comedy tape and have my agent send it in to some sitcom casting people just to break the mold even though I'm not a big fan of working on sitcoms, I prefer dry humor, but whatever, it put a crack in the 'he only does dark stuff' cast they were putting on me and right after that I got a role in a small action movie and FINALLY started seeing progress in my career, so," he shrugged again, scratching Trixie behind her ears and smiling up at Derek

"What about you? How'd you break in?"

"What?" he asked, not sure he heard that right

"To showbiz? How'd you break into the business?"

"O-Oh... my sister's college roommate's father is a talent agent and she ended up becoming a talent agent too- my sister, not her roommate- I was her first project, she shopped around a commercial I did when I was nineteen until I got a bit part in a movie and I did a few extra parts, I was a zombie once on The Walking Dead for example, and eventually she actually managed to get me an audition with some corny teen movie and I finally started doing real acting," he mused

"That is SO cool! Dude I'd LOVE to be a zombie are you kidding me? How was it?"

"Uh... well it was something I would definately do again but at the same time a little miserable, we were shooting in Georgia in the middle of summer and I had on three layers plus a ton of make up and I was walking on concrete, I probbably lost a pound of weight just from the sweat,"

"Pfft, I wish I could do that, I have this bad habbit of eating when I'm nervous so I've had to seriously resist temptation lately to avoid being forced to exercise, I know people in Hollywood are all fans of it somehow but I'm just like... no... no if there is any possible way at all I can avoid exercising I will,"

"Sort of my opposite then, I lose my apptite when I'm nervous and just exercise twice as much, it was a problem for a wile there,"

Stiles' eye twitched

"Are you serious? Oh my God typical Hollywood person, ugh..."

Derek laughed slightly, smiling a bit at that

"How'd you get the commercial anyway? The thing that started you on acting?"

"Oh... well...." he took a breath, squirming slightly and looking down

"I was a model when I was a teenager.. actually... until I was about twenty-one and into acting enough that I could quit... I was signed on the commercial as a model and by chance had three lines I had to say and the first couple jobs I had were sort of the same way, a couple of lines- if any- mostly hired to look pretty or occassionally do something in the background, my first part in a movie was actually unnamed and labeled 'hot ex-boyfreind'.."

Stiles was quiet for a moment before clearing his throat and averting his gaze

"Wow," he mumbled

Derek frowned

"Wow what?"

"No nothing, it's... it's nothing, really, I promise, just... I don't know... on the one hand I should have known you were a model because you definately, DEFINATELY look like one but on the other... I don't know... I guess I'm surprised? I didn't expect you to be a model, you don't seem the type,"

"I'm not a model anymore," he frowned

"Really? Not at all?"

"No, not unless it's something promotional for a role I have but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count... and what do you mean I don't seem the type?"

"Just... you seem very private, quiet.. a little timid... I don't know, I mean I've met models before who are like that but they always have a certain air about them that also says they don't mind their face being on billboards across the nation and you ... you just don't seem like that, you strike me as someone who doesn't even like seeing themselves in pictures- wich, by the way, I both understand and will never understand because God you're attractive- and not to mention they probbably wouldn't be comfortable looking sexual at all and most models do so..."

Derek swallowed, biting his lip

"How can you read someone like that?"

"It's a magic thing, a spark thing," he shrugged back

Derek could actually feel the surprise taking over his face

"You-"

"Yeah and you're a werewolf, I know, don't bother hiding it,"

He shut his mouth and swallowed, suddenly feeling more on edge than he had been when he first came here

"I don't mind you know, I LIKE werewolves, my best buddy Scott is a werewolf but I'm sure you could already tell, but anyway.... so what happened? With the modeling thing? How did all that manifest?"

Derek shrugged again, looking at the floor

"A scouting agent for Abercrombe came up to me when I was sixteen at a mall and asked if I could model some stuff for and I stupidly said yes and it all went downhill from there, a few other teen clothing brands wanted me and then by the time I turned eighteen I had matured more and started getting asked to do actual adult modeling and... I was actually kind of big when I left it,"

"So why'd you leave it?"

It wasn't a rude question and Stiles seemed sincerely curious as opposed to the usual reactions of surprise and what could only be described as personal offense when he explained to people that he used to be a good model and yet had abandonded it completely, as if they had some kind of stake in his life

"Alot of reasons, I don't want to be famous but I've spent so much time in showbiz that I feel sort of at home with it, I can put myself in a different headspace for a role and I enjoy that so I want to keep acting, but I was getting to be a big deal in modeling and I didn't want that, nothing good ever comes with fame,"

Stiles stared at him for a moment, scooting a little closer and shaking his head

"Mm, mm-mm, no, not buying it,"

"What?" Derek asked in confusion

"I mean, no I believe you, I believe that you feel that way, but I don't think that's why you left modeling, not the real reason anyway, if you don't want to tell me that's your right but-"

"I almost drowned,"

There was a pause

"That's why I came -... that's actually what I wanted to come and talk to you about, the last time I was in the water on film was when I was nineteen, I almost drowned, I still get nervous about swimming for extended periods of time and when I booked this movie I didn't know there would be an underwater scene and I haven't been underwater since ... and... the thought that I can't even keep myself up if I want to... I wanted to come and tell you ahead of time that I might freak out and I'm sorry in advance if I do but-"

"Hey hey look at me," Stiles said soothingly as he set Trixie down and stepped closer to Derek, crouching in front of him and taking his hands

"Derek, if you get uncomfortable, tell Scott, he is seriously the most chill director I've ever met in my LIFE and he will SO work a way around this for you, like he'll get a big clear glass thing for you to stand on underwater and we'll just .. well.. ACT like you're having to tread, it's ok, we can do that,"

He shook his head, looking down

"I atleast want to try it this way... I mean... what if this happens in the future and there's no Scott around to save me? I need to face my fears, but... it's nice to know I have the option if I really can't handle it... Laura will just have to mention in my resume that I can't do anything underwater or prolonged swimming," he sighed

"Hey, look... there is nothing wrong with that at all ok? I can't do scenes that heavily involve medical equipment or needles, I freak out about it, I tried it about eight months ago when I signed on to do an episode of Grey's Anatomy and just walking on set made me nervous so I had to call my freind Lydia to come down and help me get through my first scene since the rest was just really simple stuff and thank GOD she was able to leave and help me stay anchored off set 'cause let me tell you I almost had like three panic attacks over a scene that wasn't even five minutes long, I don't even have some near-death experience or anything to chalk this up to, it's just how I am, so I had to put that on MY resume and yeah it sucks but it's alot better than being on set with people who aren't freindly and having a break down, I got really nervous when I was doing a commercial once and everyone was really uptight and I ended up getting fired from it because I just got more and more anxious so... just please please trust me when I say it's ok Derek,"

He nodded slowly, staring into his eyes

"I trust you, and I trust you not to let me drown,"

He didn't know how or why, the last time he trusted someone with that....

Stiles smiled, pulling up a chair to sit in front of him and picking up Trixie again

"Good, that's super good... so ah.... do you know what happened? To make you drown?"

He nodded slowly, looking down again

"We were doing a shoot for suits that happened to be underwater- I still don't know why, I guess it was 'artistic'- and I was supposed to be under for a little less than a minute in order to get the pictures snapped but the pool was too deep and when I forced myself to the bottom I got light-headed and didn't have the energy to swim back to the surface because my body was in poor condition, I blacked out underwater,"

"Your body was in poor condition?"

There was a pause, a few seconds where they could only hear the clock ticking

"You were pushing yourself weren't you?" Stiles asked after a minute

"Not eating enough and exercising too much? Were you sleeping?"

He shook his head slowly, starting to fidget

"How did yo-"

"It happened to someone I worked with, are you ok now? Are you doing better?"

He sighed

"Yes Stiles, this was a few years ago back when I was with my modeling manager,"

"Hey... you didn't happen to work with Kate Argent did you? I know it's a long shot bu-"

"How did you know?" he frowned

Stiles smiled sadly

"It's a long story, basically the guy I knew who it happened to was under her 'wing' and mentioned her talking about the pool thing with him, although she didn't drop names,"

Derek groaned, rubbing his eyes

He knew coming here was a horrible idea

"Hey look, you're ok, ok Derek?" he said softly

"I met that terrible woman once, she was the one who pushed you to think you had to ... she hurt you, didn't she?"

Hurt him, touched him, killed a part of him that he would never get back

But Stiles didn't need to know all that, as a matter of fact, he didn't need to know ANY of this...

So he settled for not answering at all

"Derek, look at me,"

He didn't know why, but he did

"I'm not going to let you go ok? Promise, underneath all this I have some serious muscle packed up and I can definately hold you up no problem," he said with a wink

Derek's eyebrows raised and he tilted his head in a bit of a silent argument

"... I also have magic and will probbably be using that,"

That made more sense somehow

"Thank you, I appreciate it,"

Stiles smiled and stood up

"No problem, we should probbably go on to hair and make up, they fireworks stopped a wile ago,"

"Agreed," Derek nodded, standing as well and turning for the door

"Oh and Derek?"

The older man turned, blushing and blinking quickly when he found Stiles' lips on his own and feeling significantly dissappointed that they were gone before he could kiss back

"The chemistry is always best when the actors are really dating," he said with a teasing wink as he headed out of the trailer

Derek didn't waste a single second before following him

"Well I DO love good chemistry..."


End file.
